Preaching and the Land - Luke 21:5-19

The Western Wall

The Western Wall is all that remains of the Second Temple complex.  It is actually a part of the retaining wall for Herod's expanded platform and not the Temple proper.

Jesus foretold of the destruction of this holy place in Sunday's gospel text.  He was standing in one of the temple courts when some in the crowd extolled the immensity and beauty of the temple and praised the daily sacrifices.

His companions were not alone in such admiration for the sacred space.  Josephus wrote that a stranger to the city might mistake the temple for a snow-covered mountain.  He described it with these words: "for all that was not gold was snowy white."

In 70 A. D. the Romans burned the temple and destroyed the city.  In the words of Jesus, "there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."